The Art of Teaching: Rosenshine's 'Principles of Instruction'

This blog was started due to beginning the MTPT Project (Maternity Teacher Paternity Teacher Project) whilst being pregnant and preparing for my maternity leave. My school fortunately contributed to support me through this process and I started having coaching sessions with a life coach that was arranged through the project. The one-on-one time with this coach began as a conversation about what this maternity project would look like during my maternity leave. I had all sorts of ideas; from starting an MA, to helping the elderly. One thing I knew is that I didn't know what I was capable of until I had a child so I was going into the project quite blind. I wanted to be open minded. For the first months of motherhood, I was absorbed into being a Mummy and our lives completely changed.

Now, with a six month old, things have changed very slightly. Light has started to creep in from working life. I was sitting in the waiting room of the doctors and I read the introduction of Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. Feeling that teaching rush of inspiration, I then designed my first lesson plan for Year 9s. I came out of that day thinking I was ready to start discussing my return to the classroom. It excites me. The months leading up to this, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to go back into a classroom or not...the idea does excite me, yes, but it also fills me with slight anxiety that I might not be able to do it. Then, that anxiety is flooded away with the knowledge that I've felt like this before (actually worse) when a former head of English gave me some feedback from a lesson and told me to dial down my personality. From then on, I doubted my character as a teacher and struggled with my identity as a teacher. Once I got the job at my new school, and spent a few years being the teacher I wanted to be (a bit strange, enthusiastic, and collaborative with strange mediums i.e. the art department and convents...!) then my passion for teaching returned. I guess, in a way, I know that whatever life will throw at me in September: exhaustion, emotional stress and anxiety, I know it will never be as bad as it used to be. And even if it is, I know I can get through it like I did before.

So...this leads me to being back in school for the first time and finding the Michaelmas newsletter from our Academic Office. I skimmed through it and found an article in the back. I decided to keep this page folded over in the library at home and then come back to it when I was ready to read it. Yesterday and this morning, I read it. It was called 'Principles of Instruction' by Barak Rosenshine. I have no idea what the teachers at school were meant to do with it (I obviously missed the memo - being up to my elbows in all sorts of baby-associated activities) but maybe our Director of Teaching and Learning left it there for the start of term inspiration. I decided to use it as a 'getting back into teaching inspiration'. And, as little Olive played on her mat (independent learning...!), I started to read the article. Old thoughts and experiences came flooding back. 

What I'm taking from it is this (in order of reading):

Spend time reviewing knowledge at the beginning of a lesson (whether that be concepts and skills needed for homework, reviewed relevant knowledge necessary for the day's lesson, reviewing previous learning, or peer-on-peer reviewing).
Reflection: I usually like to collect in homework once a week/every other week depending on timescales and getting the students to complete a little 'Prep Review' in the back of their folders would be useful here and something I might start when I'm back. Prep is an area I'd like to improve on. What I feel I do well is reviewing previous learning...I like to start a lesson with what we did previously and what we thought/learnt about it (this includes previous knowledge from a previous topic/section of work). I do remember teachers talking about peer-on-peer reviewing and how successful it actually is. I find that including a tick sheet of what they're looking for helps with peer reviewing (a written list up on the board that you've created with the class is easier than printing it off - or create one on lesson and print it off or add it to the class one drive).

Teach in small steps and guiding student practice
Reflection: This is interesting as it implies that teacher led practice is important but in small chunks. Within this section of the article, Rosenshine also mentions the ideas of thinking aloud and talking through the processes. This is something I will try to do more of (I'm not sure how much I do of this and whether it's subconscious).

Questioning
Reflection: Always important. There is discussion 'choral responses'. This would help the shy characters in class not being over shadowed by the louder ones. I like this idea.

Modelling
Reflection: Through these small presentations in steps, it mentions that modelling is extremely important and this is the scariest thing for new teachers as it feels like you're really putting your own knowledge to the test. The only thing that helped me was that the more I did it, the better I became. I now love nothing more than annotating a poem with my classes. I then gradually take my modelling away (i.e. stanza by stanza until they're left with annotating a poem on their own). The only thing about this is that they can be quite slow and therefore if there's lots of content to get through (GCSE is content heavy) it's good to have a balance of teacher-led and student-led because they do need the skill for the unseen poetry section. Graduated modelling is also good with essay writing as well - I should do more of this. Cards with 'who', 'where', 'why', and 'how' are also mentioned but not sure how I'd embed this into my teaching yet.

Checking for understanding - avoiding errors (asking students to summarize, repeat instructions, or ask if they agree or disagree with an opinion)
Reflection: I found this hard during training as I took aaaages to explain what I wanted students to do. Over time, I became quicker and more direct with instructions. I predict that when I start teaching again I might be a bit rusty in these areas as I'll have a new Mummy brain! Quite a common idea is asking the pupils to repeat instructions to check for understanding - I started doing this in my training year and it helped with daydreamers. I like the agree or disagree idea.

High success rate
Reflection: This sums up all the above and adds the idea about a well formed background knowledge (schema). This well formed background knowledge takes a lot of time and trust in the teachers before and also what they do outside the classroom (dependant on prep time which they complete independently). This knowledge is different for all pupils and can differ depending on their own cultural background and personal habits. This is why differentiation is so important and therefore the main idea here (I believe) is getting to know our pupils and then giving independent feedback for that individual in order to improve and succeed.

Scaffolding
Reflection: I've mentioned things I do and here, Rosenshine reiterates the need for modelling, thinking aloud, cue cards, and checklists. What I found most interesting was the idea of teachers having to anticipate errors. This almost makes me think about how teachers are meant to be seen as mind readers but we can only anticipate errors if we've seen the errors occur before...so...it's all down to experience.

Monitoring independent practice
Reflection: Circulating the room is what I do as often as I can. When you're a tired teacher, though, it's tough to do it all the time. From this article, it mentions that if you stop for too long then the teacher usually hasn't explained things properly through guided practice. That does make sense although I usually find that if I go round and crouch in front of them to help them (or pull up a chair next to them) I can put myself on their level (in their shoes) and try to help them through a problem. Then, if another person is struggling, the person I helped originally, can go teach the other pupil what I've taught them. The pupil who is teaching another pupil really feels like they've helped, too. Apparently, circulation should be 30 seconds or less but I've found that some students need more guiding and others.

Weekly/Monthly review
Reflection: It's mentioned here that students are required 'extensive and broad reading' to create schema. It's understood here that reviewing material will help increase their knowledge in long-term memory therefore freeing up space in their working memory. This is why I created the Reading Challenge...so I can try and make reading fun to those who struggle to pick their book up in the evening. Also, creating set reading for prep means that they're already prepared for when they come into class. Reviewing weekly or monthly also helps them develop their deeper knowledge. Quizzes could help do this (but would create more work from the teacher - maybe we could get the pupils to make one for the class?!).

Ideas for September:

• Homework Review Sheet
• Choral Responses during questioning
• Graduated modelling for essay writing (year 9s, not just GCSE)
• Ask other students whether they agree or disagree with an opinion? Create more debates. 
• Think about 'who', 'where', 'why', and 'how' cards
• Pupils create a review quiz

To end this post, I remember a book I bought for the MTPT project back when I was pregnant. It was called 'Rosenshine's Principles in Action' by Tom Sherrington. It'll be my next academic read and I wonder if he has the same opinion than me?!...to be continued...